Neither the ALA nor our division the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) sets prescriptive standards for school libraries, including a number of books per student. Instead, we advocate an outcomes-based assessment process initially set forth in 1998, in [http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/informationpowerbook/informationpowerbooks.cfm '''Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning'''], a guide for school library media specialists in helping students flourish in a learning community not limited by time, place, age, occupation or disciplinary borders. The guidelines of ''Information Power'' also explain the importance of collaboration -- joining teachers and others to identify links in student information needs, curricular content, learning outcomes, and a variety of print and non-print resources.

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Neither the ALA nor our division, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), sets prescriptive standards for school libraries, including a number of books per student (see [[Collection Development]] for further help with this). Instead, we advocate an outcomes-based assessment process initially set forth in 1998, in [http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/informationpowerbook/informationpowerbooks.cfm '''Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning'''], a guide for school library media specialists in helping students flourish in a learning community not limited by time, place, age, occupation or disciplinary borders. The guidelines of ''Information Power'' also explain the importance of collaboration -- joining teachers and others to identify links in student information needs, curricular content, learning outcomes, and a variety of print and non-print resources.

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In order to recognize the changing role of school library media programs now and in the future, AASL has developed new learning standards for school library media programs. [http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm '''"Standards for the 21st-Century Learner"'''] offer vision for teaching and learning to both guide and beckon our profession as education leaders. They will both shape the library program and serve as a tool for library media specialists to use to shape the learning of students in the school. There is a [http://21stcenturylearner.pbwiki.com/ wiki] for further exploration of these standards.

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In order to recognize the changing role of school library media programs now and in the future, AASL has developed new learning standards for school library media programs. [http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm '''Standards for the 21st-Century Learner'''] offers vision for teaching and learning to both guide and beckon our profession as education leaders. They will both shape the library program and serve as a tool for library media specialists to use to shape the learning of students in the school.

[http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/guidelines.cfm '''''Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs'''''] is the newest addition to the line up. It advances school library media programs to meet the needs of the changing school library environment and is guided by the [http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standardsinaction.cfm '''Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action'''] and ''Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action.''

[http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/guidelines.cfm '''''Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs'''''] is the newest addition to the line up. It advances school library media programs to meet the needs of the changing school library environment and is guided by the [http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standardsinaction.cfm '''Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action'''] and ''Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action.''

For additional information, see [[Budgeting]], [[Collection Development]], and [[Staffing]] on this wiki.

For additional information, see [[Budgeting]], [[Collection Development]], and [[Staffing]] on this wiki.

Revision as of 11:35, 11 April 2011

Neither the ALA nor our division, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), sets prescriptive standards for school libraries, including a number of books per student (see Collection Development for further help with this). Instead, we advocate an outcomes-based assessment process initially set forth in 1998, in Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, a guide for school library media specialists in helping students flourish in a learning community not limited by time, place, age, occupation or disciplinary borders. The guidelines of Information Power also explain the importance of collaboration -- joining teachers and others to identify links in student information needs, curricular content, learning outcomes, and a variety of print and non-print resources.

In order to recognize the changing role of school library media programs now and in the future, AASL has developed new learning standards for school library media programs. Standards for the 21st-Century Learner offers vision for teaching and learning to both guide and beckon our profession as education leaders. They will both shape the library program and serve as a tool for library media specialists to use to shape the learning of students in the school.

In addition, individual states may have standards, which should be reviewed and observed as appropriate. Some of these are referenced on AASL's Standards & Guidelines page. Others may be found at the sites listed on these directory pages: